Monday, July 24, 2006
Most roads lead to Syracuse
Talk about craziness in travel!! Last week (July 16-21), I was at Fermilab for the Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA) for M-W, was home on Thursday and flew to Syracuse on Friday for a Saturday workshop on cosmic rays at AAPT in Syracuse, NY with Tom Jordan and Bob Peterson. I fly to Cincinnati on Tuesday of this week to visit the QuarkNet center there and check in on their Teaching and Learning Academy, which they held at home.
In the meantime, Tom Jordan was at CERN 2 weeks ago, the Fermilab TLA on M-F of last week and in Syracuse for the beginning of this week. Bob Peterson was at the Fermilab TLA 2 weeks ago, went to Vancouver for an outreach event at the International Linear Collider meeting there and is now in Syracuse as well. Four weeks ago, Ken Cecire was in Zambia (a country in Africa - not the bar down the street from your dorm as a junior) for 2 weeks, returned to the Fermilab TLA for week and a couple of days, went to Vancouver and is at Syracuse now. Finally, Kris Whelen was at the TLA for the entire 2 weeks and is now at home resting, I hope. Marge Bardeen could be found at the TLA, in Vancouver and maybe at home also . . . whew!
There seem to be an abundance of QuarkNet types presenting this year. So far, in addition to QuarkNet staff, I've seen or konw of the following: Tom Loughran (Notre Dame), Pat Mooney (ND), Joe whose last name I can't remember (Rutgers), Laird Kramer (Forida Intl U), Kevin McFarland (Rochester), and Susan Clark (Rochester). Also, former QuarkNet staff member Frank Hicks is here - he's now teaching at California State - Sacramento. I had lunch with him on Sunday. He's doing well.
Hope this finds everyone well and resting for the usual rush of the beginning of a new school year.
Peace,
Beth
In the meantime, Tom Jordan was at CERN 2 weeks ago, the Fermilab TLA on M-F of last week and in Syracuse for the beginning of this week. Bob Peterson was at the Fermilab TLA 2 weeks ago, went to Vancouver for an outreach event at the International Linear Collider meeting there and is now in Syracuse as well. Four weeks ago, Ken Cecire was in Zambia (a country in Africa - not the bar down the street from your dorm as a junior) for 2 weeks, returned to the Fermilab TLA for week and a couple of days, went to Vancouver and is at Syracuse now. Finally, Kris Whelen was at the TLA for the entire 2 weeks and is now at home resting, I hope. Marge Bardeen could be found at the TLA, in Vancouver and maybe at home also . . . whew!
There seem to be an abundance of QuarkNet types presenting this year. So far, in addition to QuarkNet staff, I've seen or konw of the following: Tom Loughran (Notre Dame), Pat Mooney (ND), Joe whose last name I can't remember (Rutgers), Laird Kramer (Forida Intl U), Kevin McFarland (Rochester), and Susan Clark (Rochester). Also, former QuarkNet staff member Frank Hicks is here - he's now teaching at California State - Sacramento. I had lunch with him on Sunday. He's doing well.
Hope this finds everyone well and resting for the usual rush of the beginning of a new school year.
Peace,
Beth
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
TLA, Part II
Today, Wednesday, July 19, the teachers rehashed the meaning of "inquiry" and how to write rubrics for teacher and student efforts. There was much spirited discussion on the use of inquiry in all lessons, including discussions of breadth vs. depth, covering a given curriculum targeted to a test (i.e., AP or IB) and meeting standards. The two groups even reached consensus - one group's consensus was to "agree to disagree":)
The local groups then compared their activities to the rubrics through discussion. They then polished and refined what they had done with the students over the past 2 days.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Teaching and Learning Academy
The teachers have spent a week here at Fermilab polishing up their lessons for the students before I arrived today. They obviously have put in a lot of time on their lessons as they tried them out on a group of 29 students this afternoon and they all went well. My favorite so far is using a handheld laser to discern the shape of a mylar-wrapped block hidden under cardboard. (Think the old rolling marbles to discern a shape kicked up a notch or two.) The best part was that there were more than one shape under the cardboard making the task much more complex - and creative.
Like all good teachers, Ken, Kris and I responded to the crisis of: 29 students and 45 minutes of downtime - put in a video!! Following the video, Ken resorted to the Monty Python "Dead Parrot Sketch". It was a hit!
Bye for now,
Beth
